Is Mille Lacs healthy? - Mille Lacs Lake Fishing (Fishing Reports, Events, Tournament Information and more)

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Is Mille Lacs healthy?

Bobber · Admin / Moderator

I'm allowing the water temperature to improve before I cast my opinion here.

Time will tell...

Willy · Member

Well, besides low walleye catch rate, minimal boat and/or fisherman traffic and generally poor attitude towards the lake, it looks really healthy (from satellite). The optimist in me says to agree with Bobber, wait and see what warmer water brings. It wasn't an exciting weekend on the water but I believe weather played a big role. The bite improved for me Sunday night once the wind kicked in before the rain. I will say I kinda missed the crowds, especially the ones trolling perpendicular to the drift.

MCallies · Malmo Bay Bomber

The water temp was only 46 degrees where I was able to fish in Malmo and Agate Bays. cry

It was quite cold putting the docks in and securing them.

However, my concern right now is that I did not locate as many fish as I had hoped on the Lowrance HDS screens in 12 -17 FOW.

I think we must have warmer water....I will be back fishing intensely in June. MM

7outof10 · Member

That's a hard ? To answer ....... keep in mind my answer is coming from someone that lives 3 hours away and has not fished the lake this year at all but I try my best to stay up to date and informed on the issues about the lake.......

if you listen to the DNR the lake had a really good walleye perch and tulipe hatch and as of last check the young fish where surviing
and the possibilities of a good hatch for this year .....so maybe the walleye class of 2013 will survive good because there is plenty of forage for the large walleyes smallmouths and northern to eat instead of the baby walleyes

now my thoughts ......even though I am encouraged from the good hatch last year it still does not leave us with a balanced fishery which is a very important to keep the fish sizes and check I think the DNR needs to do more to remove some of the large walleyes from the lake and the whole idea of how they come up with their protected slot limit may need to be readjusted to allow for the taking of some bigger welleyes and I don't care what the Dnr says netting for walleyes before they have spond cannot be a major part in any healthy fishery there is a reason we are not allowed to fish for some parts of the year for walleyes .....its not so they can go down to FL for a month and lay on the beach and get a suntan .....the dnr needs to start thinking of how they will allow people to take a small percentage of the 2013 year class of walleyes once they get bigger each year without depleting it but still allowing some of them to turn into large breeding stock
I do like their approach to allow for the taking of more northern pike and a small mouth bass but I think this is too little too late they knew this problem was coming and yet they waited this long to do anything about the problem the DNR needs to set their priorities on if they are going to manage this lake for a walleyes or bass and pike

Doug Ertl · Website Admin

I am with Bobber here. I am trying hard to stay positive and I think I read to much on here as most of it is negative. I hope things get better. Its still fishing and that's the part I enjoy. It's not necessarily always the catching part that makes me come back, but it does help. Hang in there everyone. Things will get better.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Time will tell if the bite improves with the warmer water, but that's not why I started this topic. I'm seeing fish in places that I'm not used to seeing them and NOT seeing fish where I normally do. I thought this was unusual and was just wondering if anyone else is seeing things like that which are extremely out of the ordinary.

I' sure that water clarity and overabundance of predator fish have SOMETHING to do with it, but walleyes are creatures of habit and was wondering if two late ice off dates might have something to do also, or maybe something else...........................................?

MCallies · Malmo Bay Bomber

fishnpole wrote:
Time will tell if the bite improves with the warmer water, but that's not why I started this topic. I'm seeing fish in places that I'm not used to seeing them and NOT seeing fish where I normally do. I thought this was unusual and was just wondering if anyone else is seeing things like that which are extremely out of the ordinary.
I' sure that water clarity and overabundance of predator fish have SOMETHING to do with it, but walleyes are creatures of habit and was wondering if two late ice off dates might have something to do also, or maybe something else...........................................?

Fishnpole, I have observed the same thing thus far this year especially.

In Malmo Bay area, we are seeing walleyes in the Castaways Marina this year -- which is NOT USUAL and I saw very few fish on the normal walleye locations for the opener weekend.

We usually see northern pike in the Marina area but rarely walleyes. They seem to be seeking cover from predators of all types: tribal nets, predator large fish (Muskie), etc. is my thought.

They were there all weekend and into the early week. MM

moose-hunter · Member

I definitely agree with F-N-P!

I was out on the north side yesterday... Out of the (4) overs brought in, half were at "typical" walleye haunts. But not really what I would call in traditionally seasonal patterns. One was caught in roughly 8 FOW, Which seemed relatively "normal"... While the other was deep... 22 FOW at the bottom of a break.

The others were caught in places I'd never tried before. Found them while cruising with my H-Bird side imaging. Couldn't believe what I saw was fish, but marks were very distinct. So I spun around and dropped a line to confirm. Never even thought to fish in these spots. At least not this time of year.

Maybe I found a few in transition... Maybe the cold water temps are confusing them a bit (43.1* was the warmest I saw.)

Dunno for sure... But it was very different to say the least.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

While all of us anglers are trying to cope with the changing lakescape and fish habits, the Supervisor of District 10 Fisheries for the MN DNR, Rick Bruesewitz has published the first issue of an informational newsletter of Mille Lacs. This newsletter contains operational survey methods, results and observations by the DNR and publish their statistical findings.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/largelakes/millelacs/newsletter/homll_201401.pdf

Leech lake has had one for awhile, now.

MCallies · Malmo Bay Bomber

Yo, Fishnpole ~!Thank you so much for this posting!

WTG. See you soon in late June.

I sent this along to all of my family members and Malmo friends.

Malmo Mike MM

fishnpole · Veteran Member

In an attempt to bridge the gap with Minnesota taxpayers and DNR efforts to get the walleye population on Mille Lacs under control, th Minnesota DNR has scheduled THIS (in New Brighton of all places)

Mille Lacs walleye reproduction is topic of presentation

Walleye reproduction in Mille Lacs Lake will be the subject of a Department of Natural Resources presentation and discussion from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in the New Brighton Community Center, at 400 10th St. NW in New Brighton.

The event is intended to share biological information and answer citizen questions related to past, present and future walleye reproduction.

“We all care about Mille Lacs,” said Tom Jones, DNR regional fisheries treaty coordinator. “To that end, our goal is to create a deeper and more common understanding on the specific issue of whether there is a walleye reproduction problem.”

The DNR is calling the event Hooked on Mille Lacs: On the Road. It complements the agency’s new Hooked on Mille Lacs Lake quarterly newsletter. At this and future gatherings, local DNR fisheries biologists will present on important and timely Mille Lacs topics. A facilitated group discussion on the evening’s topic will give people the chance to ask questions and make suggestions for future discussions.

“The plan is to regularly meet with citizens to take an in-depth look at a specific issue,” said Jones. “This is new. It’s different. It will allow for more public interaction than in our past meeting formats.”

Jones said the meeting is part of an emerging agency approach to more broadly communicate fish population information, research findings and rationale for management decisions. There is no charge for admission.

To learn about Mille Lacs Lake management, visit www.mndnr.gov/millelacslake. People interested in receiving email updates about Mille Lacs Lake, including notices of the new Hooked on Mille Lacs Lakenewsletter, can subscribe to the Hooked on Mille Lacs update list at www.mndnr.gov/millelacslakenews.

Michgoldeneye · Member

The presentations will be held 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 21 in the Isle High School auditorium, 730 Fifth Ave. S., in Isle, and 6:30- 8 p.m Aug. 28 in the New Brighton Community Center, at 400 10th St. NW in New Brighton.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Thanks, Tommy. I didn't know about the one in Isle. THAT one I can make.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Guess what, guys.

Netting during the spawning season doesn't really hurt the walleye population at all. Of course, the reason anglers can't do it is 'cuz anglers can set up on the fish and catch too many.

?

...........................and netting doesn't?

When I asked Tom Jones,(who is the MN fisheries treaty liason for the DNR) who was the speaker to explain why the lake has been reproducing better with little netting and less angling pressure because of the last two late ice-out years, he said they had many years with this many small fish and no keepers BEFORE the treaty problems.

Name one, Tom................

THEN, he tried to misquote the Supreme Court to prove that the MNDNR can't make a move without the agreement of GLIFWC and the band's DNR. When I spoke up and said that wasn't what the decision's ruling said, He said that's exactly what it says.

Tom, Tom, Tom.........................

Here's what the ruling REALLY says:
(you be the judge)

Indian treaty rights can coexist with state management of natural resources. Although States have important interests in regulating wildlife and natural resources within their borders, this authority is shared with the Federal Government when the Federal Government exercises one of its enumerated constitutional powers, such as treaty making. U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2. See, e. g., Missouri v. Holland, 252 U. S. 416 (1920)
See also Menominee Tribe v. United States, supra, at 411, n. 12.
Here, the 1837 Treaty gave the Chippewa the right to hunt, fish, and gather in the ceded territory free of territorial, and later state, regulation, a privilege that others did not enjoy. Today, this freedom from state regulation curtails the State's ability to regulate hunting, fishing, and gathering by the Chippewa in the ceded lands.
But this Court's cases have also recognized that Indian treaty-based usufructuary rights do not guarantee the Indians "absolute freedom" from state regulation. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife v. Klamath 205*205 Tribe, 473 U. S., at 765, n. 16.
We have repeatedly reaffirmed state authority to impose reasonable and necessary nondiscriminatory regulations on Indian hunting, fishing, and gathering rights in the interest of conservation. See Puyallup Tribe v. Department of Game of Wash., 391 U. S. 392, 398 (1968); Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn., 443 U. S., at 682; Antoine v. Washington, supra, at 207-208

fishnpole · Veteran Member

THE MINNESOTA DNR NEEDS TO GO BACK TO BASIC FISHERY SCIENCE!

Walleye spawn over rock, rubble, gravel and similar substrate in rivers or windswept shallows in water 1 to 6 feet deep, where current clears away fine sediment and will cleanse and aerate eggs.
This is where the bands are putting their nets.
Male walleye move into spawning areas in early spring when the water temperature may be only a few degrees above freezing.
Right now, according to Tom Jones, the male population is at an all time low.
The larger females arrive later. Spawning reaches its peak when water temperature ranges from 42 to 50 degrees. The last two years have been historically late ice-outs so the nets have been minimal in comparison to the last 15 years. (Something like 27,000 for the last 2 years

A five-pound female deposits more than 100,000 eggs so they need alot of males.

Neither parent cares for the eggs in any way.
Depending on weather, the success of spawning can vary greatly year to year. Rapidly warming water can cause eggs to hatch prematurely. Prolonged cool weather can delay and impair hatching. A cold snap after the hatch can suppress the production of microcrustaceans that walleye fry eat.

Year-class strength can vary 100-fold, depending on the success of the hatch and survival of the fry. One walleye year-class may dominate in a lake, while walleye a year older or a year younger are scarce.

Right now, we have a bumper crop of walleyes in the 6-12" range which are from those two years and you can't keep 'em off your hook! In the next 2 years or so when they are 14"-18" are they just going to be harvested with that year's spawn still in their bellys?

This was what they e-mailed GLIFWC:

DNR To Bands: Mille Lacs Has Problem

State fisheries managers say that "tribal exploitation rates" of Mille Lacs male walleyes could warrant fish harvest management changes.

Changes -- perhaps big ones -- are coming to the way Mille Lacs walleyes are managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), overseer of the lake for eight Chippewa bands.

In a letter e-mailed Friday to GLIFWC, the DNR said a shortage of male walleyes in Mille Lacs is worrisome, and "continued harvest management under the [current management system] may not be possible."

Sport anglers fishing with hook and line don't appear to be the problem, the DNR said. But "tribal fishery exploitation rates on [male walleyes in age classes 4-6] have increased ...resulting in the overall increase in exploitation rates on males."

Mesh sizes used by Chippewa who net Mille Lacs generally target the lake's smaller, mostly male, walleyes.

The DNR told the bands it had several Mille Lacs fishery concerns, and "that the concerns all center on conservation and affect the management of fish populations in Mille Lacs."

Mention of "conservation" was intentional, because in the court order directing the DNR to manage Mille Lacs with the bands, only certain criteria -- resource conservation being primary -- are cause for one party to seek management changes absent the other.

The bands are expected to respond to the DNR's letter before the two parties meet in July. If the bands disagree with the DNR, the agency likely will seek a mediator to resolve the conflict, as directed in the court order.

Again this summer, Mille Lacs anglers have had difficulty finding walleyes less than 17 inches long -- the size they are allowed to keep, with the exception of one over 28 inches. These smaller fish are mostly males, and the DNR says their absence might pose problems for all Mille Lacs walleyes.

"We know we have elevated mortality in young walleyes, and we're trying to figure out why," DNR fisheries research and policy manager Don Pereira said Friday. "It's fair to say we're in new territory."

The DNR also told the bands all sources of northern pike mortality during their netting must be accounted for, including release mortality. The DNR's correspondence to the bands is available at .startribune.com/outdoors

They know what the problem is.

LET THE FISH REPRODUCE.

WallyFry · Newbie

hopefully we get a good response to the email sent to GLIFWC

was out today for 2 hours and caught 5 walleyes

15,16,16.5,17.5 and 17 and 7/8

no keeepers but great to see

fishnpole · Veteran Member

WallyFry wrote:
hopefully we get a good response to the email sent to GLIFWC
was out today for 2 hours and caught 5 walleyes
15,16,16.5,17.5 and 17 and 7/8
no keeepers but great to see

WallyFry,

This e-mail was sent two YEARS ago......................

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Alot of people have been asking me what our plan to fix Mille Lacs is, besides getting the nets out of the lake. Here is an article by Dick Sternberg who is a 2000 Fishing Hall of Fame inductee. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1965 with a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management, he began his career with the Minnesota DNR and was soon appointed Area Fisheries Manager for much of southeastern Minnesota, an area that included his home town of Rochester. For seven years, he conducted fisheries studies on the Mississippi River and managed the area’s trout streams while spending any spare time honing his river-fishing skills.

In 1974, Dick was promoted to Senior Fisheries Biologist and transferred to the St. Paul Office of the Minnesota DNR. In 1981, Dick decided he could have more impact on the sport of fishing by becoming a full-time writer. He resigned from the Minnesota DNR and began development of the Hunting & Fishing Library book series, which set a new standard for hunting and fishing books by combining factual text with hundreds of how-to photos. From 1981 to 1997, Dick authored or co-authored 24 books in the series.

How to Fix Mille Lacs

By Dick Sternberg

Background. It’s been more than a decade since I worked on behalf of the Mille Lacs landowners group to expose threats to the walleye fishery that had begun to develop as a result of the new court-ordered “treaty-management” program. With fish-management decisions being made on the basis of treaty dictates rather than biological facts, most of the serious fisheries problems we are experiencing today were easy to predict. Now, after 15 years of treaty management, the walleye population is at an historic low and the DNR seems to be at a loss as to how to solve the problem.

In attempting to summarize the causes of the problem, the DNR says: "The problem is complex. Many things are or have been going on at once. (You can find the DNR’s assessment of the dismal walleye situation on its website's Mille Lacs page under the Background FAQ tab.)

One thing the DNR did not address in their laundry list is the difficulty for non-band members to catch “keeper” walleyes. Because of the extremely narrow harvest slot in 2013 (only 18- to 20-inch walleyes could be kept), anglers had to return 89 percent of the walleyes they caught. They were also assessed a “hooking-mortality” penalty on the walleyes they released, so when the bite was hot and large numbers of fish were being thrown back, hooking mortality far exceeded the catch of keepers. In July 2013, for example, anglers harvested 13,579 pounds of walleye and were assessed hooking mortality of 38,490 pounds which counts against the non-tribal harvest quota for the year.

Another laundry-list omission: the alarmingly low percentage of males in the walleye population. In the 2013 sampling, only 39 percent of the walleyes were males. DNR biologists suspect that the gender imbalance is the result of the tribal harvest, which runs 80 to 90 percent male, in addition to the non-tribal harvest which is heavy to males because slot limits force anglers to target the smaller fish. The long-term effects of the gender imbalance are unknown.

But the DNR didn’t need my input on the issues of cannibalism and heavy predation by other fish species; they knew exactly what was going on. “The pattern of year classes starting out strong but diminishing significantly over time has been occurring since 2000,” DNR said in the 2008 Technical Committee report. “Lower survival of young fish may be a recruitment response to the increased numbers of large fish since treaty management began in 1997,” they concluded.

So if the DNR understood this problem and most of the others on the above laundry list, why haven’t they taken stronger action to solve them? Cannibalism, for example, could be reduced by adjusting the slot to allow more harvest of large walleyes. That, in turn, would increase levels of perch and other forage fish, thereby benefitting smaller walleyes. But as the DNR reminds us every time this solution is proposed, harvest of more large walleyes would put us above the safe harvest level as dictated by the TREATY-MANAGEMENT system.

So how can we fix Mille Lacs? We must discontinue treaty management and establish a biologically-sound system that allows managers to manage with all of the tools at their disposal, not with one hand tied behind their back. That will require the State to go back to court and show that treaty management is un-biological, unfair to anglers and unlikely to restore the premier walleye fishery for which the lake has long been known.